PRT comment: Further emergency measures to reduce prison population

Commenting on the Written Statement from the Lord Chancellor on Foreign National Offenders, Prisons and Probation, published yesterday, Pia Sinha, chief executive of the Prison Reform Trust, said:

“Further emergency measures to address the ongoing prisons capacity crisis were unavoidable. These provisions will buy the government some more time. But with the prison population predicted to climb as high as 114,800 by March 2028, they will only relieve pressures in the short term.

“We welcome the additional funding for the bail information service and investment in community accommodation. Concerted action to address the rapid rise in the remand population, which is now at record highs, is long overdue.

“However, with the increased demand of having to supervise more people in the community at short notice, there is a looming danger that the collective impact of these measures will place the probation service under unsustainable pressure. Even with the reprioritisation of the probation workload, the impact on the service could be catastrophic. Ministers must do all in their powers to ensure a prisons crisis does not morph into a probation crisis.”